Ireland is being urged to join an international accord that would change where multinationals pay their taxes and bring in a 15pc minimum rate.
The Government is one of eight nations still holding out on a deal struck last week by 131 other countries at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Finance ministers from the world’s 20 richest nations meeting in Venice on Friday were set to endorse the deal, but want Ireland, Hungary, Estonia and other holdouts to get on board.
“We invite all members that have not yet joined the international agreement to do so,” said a draft communique from the meeting, seen by Reuters.
Ireland “fully” supports the first part of the deal, which would force the world’s top 100 corporations to pay a portion of tax where they make their sales.
But the Government has “reservations” about a 15pc global minimum tax rate, which would see large multinationals paying top-up taxes at home if they pay below the minimum rate in countries such as Ireland.
The OECD has yet to work out the finer details of deal, such as how to treat credits, depreciation or deferred taxes, which will be crucial to companies’ investment decisions.
Other variables include the US’s domestic tax overhaul, which sets a minimum corporate tax rate of 21pc, and the EU’s upcoming digital levy, which threatens to rile the US.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to Brussels on Monday to meet with eurozone finance ministers, including Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe.
However, a senior EU official said a “discussion on taxes will be discouraged”. “We will try to avoid the issue,” the official said.
The Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bankers will give their interim seal of approval to the OECD deal in Venice on Saturday, with the final rubber-stamp to come from a leaders at the end of October.
At the Venice meeting, the EU was also forced to defend its plan for a carbon border tax, due to be published on Wednesday.
It is part of a package to help the EU meet its new emission reduction target of 55pc by 2030 rather than the 40pc original target.